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Caretaker (episode)
The newly commissioned starship Voyager and a Maquis raider are flung into the remote Delta Quadrant (home of the Borg Collective) by a powerful entity known as the Caretaker. (Series Premiere) Summary Weapons fire streaks through space as a Cardassian warship pounds a much smaller vessel with phasers. Piloting the small vessel, Maquis leader Chakotay is desperately trying to hold his ship together and get the impulse engines power steady. The Cardassian commander, Gul Evek, hails the ship, telling them to stand down, but Chakotay ignores him and tells his half-Klingon engineer, B'Elanna Torres, that if she can keep his engines going for 30 more seconds at full impulse, he will get them into the Badlands. Torres remarks that it is hard to be creative with a 39 year old rebuilt engine. The Maquis vessel soars into the plasma storms, with the Cardassian warship right behind them. But as Chakotay's piloting skills are enough to get them around the funnels of energy in the Badlands, the Cardassian ship is less lucky, and is severely damaged. The Vulcan officer, Tuvok, states that the Cardassian ship is sending out a distress call on all Cardassian frequencies. Chakotay relaxes and sets a course for a planet where they can make repairs, when a bright flash erupts through the room, startling everyone. Tuvok reports that they were just scanned by a polaric tetryon beam, and that a massive displacement wave is rapidly approaching them. Chakotay tries to get his ship manuevered away, and asks Torres if there is anything left in the impulse engines. The Maquis ship zips away, but they are not fast enough, and the crew jolts forward as the displacement wave impacts them. In the Federation Penal Settlement in New Zealand, on Earth, several inmates, wearing ankle monitors, are performing labor. One man's work is interrupted when an authoritative looking woman approaches him and asks, "Tom Paris?" The man glances up at her for a moment, then acknowledges that he is Tom Paris. She introduces herself as Captain Kathryn Janeway, and states that she needs to speak with him about a job she wants him to do. He sarcastically replies that he is already doing a job for the Federation, but Janeway says that the Penal Settlement is very pleased with his work, and has given her permission to discuss the matter with him. He then states, "Well, I guess I'm yours.", and walks with her. As they walk, Janeway informs Paris that she served with his father, an Admiral, on the ''USS Al-Batani'', as a science officer. Paris states that she must be good, as his father only accepts the best. Janeway then launches into the story of what the Federation wants Tom Paris to do. She tells him that her mission is to track down a Maquis vessel that vanished in the Badlands a week previous. When Paris asks why that particular ship, Janeway replies that the Vulcan, Tuvok, is actually a Starfleet spy, and is Janeway's chief of security. Paris then informs Janeway that he has never seen a ship capable of moving through the Badlands, but Janeway retorts by saying that he has never seen Voyager. Janeway also states that Tom Paris had once been a Maquis himself, but had gotten caught a few weeks in. She thinks he knows the commander of the missing Maquis vessel, Chakotay. Paris acknowledges that he knew Chakotay, but that the two never got along. Janeway next informs Paris that he would be a Starfleet observer, on the mission, to which Paris is shocked and states that he is the best pilot they could have. But, Janeway insists that he will be an observer, so Paris asks what is in it for him. Janeway says that if he helps them track down the Maquis, they will help him at his next inmate review session. Paris, however reluctantly, agrees. A Betazoid female pilots a shuttle towards Deep Space Nine as Tom Paris, now clad in a fresh Starfleet uniform, walks up to her. Lieutenant Stadi focuses on flying the craft, but she livens up to Paris a little as he turns on the charm. He says that Stadi is changing his mind about Betazoids, because he always thought that they were warm and sensual. Stadi says that she can be warm and sensual, but Paris replies that she can, but just not to him. The conversation shifts as a sleek vessel comes into view at one of DS9's docking rings. Stadi identifies it as their ship, the ''USS Voyager''. She states that the ship is of the Intrepid class, has a new variable warp nacelle configuaration. giving it a top cruising speed of Warp 9.975, and is equipped with bio-neural circuitry. Paris inquires as to the circuitry, and as she flies around Voyager towards the shuttlebay, she informs Paris that the bio-neural circuitry speeds up response time in the computer, faster than any humanoid could think. Impressed, Paris waits to land. Onboard Deep Space Nine, Quark is trying to sell bright diamonds to a young Starfleet Ensign of Asian descent. Log Entries *''Captain’s log, stardate 48315.6. We’ve traced the energy pulses from the array to the fifth planet of the neighboring system and believe they may have been used in some fashion to transport Kim and Torres to the planet’s surface. '' *''Captain’s log, supplemental. The Maquis ship and Voyager have encountered a debris field where sensors have detected a small vessel. One humanoid life-form is on board. '' Memorable Quotes "We're alone, in an uncharted part of the galaxy. We've already made some friends here, and some enemies. We have no idea of the dangers we're going to face, but one thing is clear, both crews are going to have to work together if we're to survive. That's why Commander Chakotay and I have agreed that this should be one crew, a Starfleet crew and as the only Starfleet vessel assigned to the Delta Quadrant we'll continue to follow our directive: to seek out new worlds and to explore space. But our primary goal is clear. Even at maximum speeds it would take 75 years to reach the Federation. But I'm not willing to settle for that. There's another entity like the Caretaker out there somewhere who has the ability to get us there a lot faster. We'll be looking for her, and we'll be looking for wormholes, spatial rifts or new technologies to help us. Somewhere along this journey, we'll find a way back." : - Captain Kathryn Janeway, to her crew "Set a course, for home." : - Captain Kathryn Janeway "I intend to destroy the array!" : - Captain Kathryn Janeway Background Information *The episode starts with scrolling text to set up the first scene; this technique was originally used in the first episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. *Some scenes had to be re-shot because Janeway's hairstyle changed. The producers thought that it would be silly for Janeway to do it in middle of crisis. It was very costly, as they had to rebuild the Ocampa city set which had already been demolished. *The events of "Caretaker" were revisited in several episodes, including VOY: "Projections", "Cold Fire", "Night", "The Voyager Conspiracy", and "Shattered". *At least twelve Voyager crewmembers died during the first week in the Delta Quadrant, including Lieutenant Commander Cavit, Lt. Stadi, the unnamed chief engineer, the unnamed chief medical officer, and the unnamed Vulcanoid nurse. (VOY: "Nightingale") *As of this episode, Armin Shimerman (Quark) and Richard Poe (Gul Evek) both played the same character on three different Star Trek series. The only other actors to do so are Jonathan Frakes (Commander William T. Riker), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), John de Lancie (Q) and Michael Ansara (Kang). *Morn is seen (as usual) in Quark's. *Tarik Ergin (Ayala) is the only actor, besides the regulars, to appear in both this episode and the finale "Endgame". *During Janeway's speech, right after she has stated that Voyager's directive will be "to seek out new worlds and explore space", parts of the TOS and TNG main title themes can be heard for a few seconds. *Due to the cost of building Voyager's bridge, converting the old TNG sets, reshooting the scenes shot with Geneviève Bujold and the ones after Janeway's hairstyle was altered, some very ambitious special effects scenes and a substantial amount of location filming, this episode is, to date, the most expensive Star Trek episode ever produced at $23 million in 1995 dollars. Adjusting for inflation, the budget equalled that of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and exceeded the budget of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Links and References Guest Stars *Basil Langton as the Caretaker *Gavan O'Herlihy as Jabin *Angela Paton as Aunt Adah *Armin Shimerman as Quark Co-Stars *Alicia Coppola as Lieutenant Stadi *Bruce French as the Ocampa Doctor *Jennifer Parsons as the Ocampa Nurse *David Selburg as Toscat *Jeff McCarthy as the Human Doctor *Stan Ivar as Mark *Scott MacDonald as Rollins *Josh Clark as Joe Carey *Richard Poe as Gul Evek *Keely Sims as Farmer's Daughter *Eric David Johnson as Daggin *Majel Barrett as Computer Voice *Mark Allen Shepherd as Morn (uncredited) *Scott Jaeck as Cavit (uncredited) *Tarik Ergin as Ayala (uncredited) *Sue Henley as Brooks (uncredited) References 47, ''Al-Batani'', USS, Alpha Quadrant, angla'bosque, Arias Expedition, Badlands, Bajor system, Baxial, Betazoid, bio-neural circuitry, Bolian tomato soup, Caldik Prime, Cardassians, Caretaker, Caretaker's array, Christmas, clarinet, Class M, cobalt, compression phaser rifle, cormaline, corn, Deep Space 9, Delta Quadrant, deviled egg, displacement wave, Earth, Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH), Federation Council, Ferengi, Fourth Order, G-type star, ''Galor''-class, graviton, ''Intrepid''-class, Julliard Youth Symphony, Kazon, Kazon Collective, Kazon-Ogla, Koladan diamond, lek, lemonade, Lobi crystal, Maquis, Maquis raider, medical tricorder, Molly, Moriya system, NCC-71325, Nacene, New Zealand, New Zealand Penal Settlement, nucleogenic particle, Ocampa, Ocampa (planet), Operations officer, phaser type-1, plasma storm, ''Predator''-class, Quark's Bar, Science officer, security anklet, sickbay, sporocystian lifeform, Starfleet Academy, Starfleet Survival Course, sugar cookie, Talaxian, Terikof belt, tetryon, The Warming, tomato soup, trianoline, tri-cobalt device, tricorder, type-6 shuttlecraft, Val Jean, Vetar, Volnar colony, ''Voyager'', USS, warp core, water, Zakarian External links * Caretaker, Part I at StarTrek.com * Caretaker, Part II at StarTrek.com Category:VOY episodes de:Der Fürsorger, Teil I es:Caretaker fr:Caretaker nl:Caretaker (aflevering)